In 1966, just a few month prior to his death, Walt Disney was named “Showman for the World” by NATO (Not the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But — rather — the National Association of Theater Owners).
Of course, while he was putting in an appearance at NATO’s annual convention to accept this award, Walt was asked “Why don’t you make a sequel to your studio’s biggest hit?” Which — at that time — was “Mary Poppins.” Which had been released to theaters back in August of 1964.
Walt Disney and New Worlds to Conquer
You’ve probably heard a few select quotes from Walt’s response to this question in the past. Which Disney employees have then cherry-picked to support whatever project they were working on at the time. What follows is Walt’s full response. Which may give you some idea what direction Walt Disney Productions was actually headed in just prior to Walt’s untimely passing in December of 1966:
Many people have asked, “Why don’t you make another Mary Poppins?” Well, by nature, I’m a born experimenter. To this day, I don’t believe in sequels. I can’t follow popular cycles. I have to move on to new things — there are many new worlds to conquer.
As a matter of fact, people have been asking us to make sequels ever since Mickey Mouse first became a star. We have bowed only on one occasion to the cry to repeat ourselves. Back in the ‘30’s, “The Three Little Pigs” was an enormous hit, and the cry went up “Give us more pigs.” I could not see how we could possibly top pigs with pigs. But we tried, and I doubt that any of you can name the other cartoons in which the pigs appeared.
We didn’t make the same mistake with “Snow White.” When it was a huge hit, the shout went up for more dwarfs. Top dwarfs with dwarfs? Why try?
Right now, we’re not thinking about making another “Mary Poppins.” We never will. Perhaps there will be other ventures with equal critical and financial success. But we know that we can not hit a home run with the bases loaded every time we go to the plate. We also know that the only way we can even get to First Base is by constantly going to bat and continuing to swing.
So we’re always looking for new ideas and new stories, hoping that somehow we’ll come up with a different kind of “Mary Poppins” … or even a different kind of Disneyland.
As 1967 begins, we have high hopes that some of our current projects may measure up to this exciting challenge. Perhaps it will be a motion picture like “The Happiest Millionaire.” Perhaps it will be our so-called “Disney World” in Florida. Or perhaps it will be our year-round recreation facility in the High Sierra of California, Mineral King.
“… our so-called ‘Disney World’ in Florida”
You gotta love Walt describing “Project Florida” as “ … our so-called ‘Disney World’ in Florida.” As in: Seriously? That’s the best name that you could come up with for this thing? Try again.”
But look at how Walt describes Mineral King: “ … our year-round recreation facility in the High Sierra of California.” Care to guess which one Walt was most excited about? “ … our so-called ‘Disney World’ in Florida” or “ … our year-round recreation facility in the High Sierra of California” ?
Remember the press conference which was held at the Cherry Tree Plaza Hotel in Orlando back in November of 1965. More importantly, Walt’s private meeting with 750 of Florida’s most powerful politicians and business leaders just prior to this press conference.
It was while Walt was speaking with the press & those politicians that the public got its first inkling of what the construction timetable for “Project Florida” might be. Here’s what Walt said at that time:
Based on preliminary estimates that WED had done, it would take “… at least a year and a half to design” the vacation kingdom portion of Disney World and then “ … at least another year-and-a-half to (actually) build” the thing.“
Again, that was revealed back in November of 1965. And since that time, Florida’s politicians and business leaders had been patiently waited on word as to what Walt’s “so-called ‘Disney World’ “ would entail.
But as 1966 drew to a close, word came out of California that Walt Disney Productions was finally ready to reveal what exactly they wanted to build out on those 27,443 acres that the Company acquired out in the swamps of Central Florida.
Here’s the crucial part of that announcement:
“Preliminary plans for Disney World — and a review of local legislation necessary to make the project a reality — will be revealed at a public hearing called by the Central Florida legislative delegation during the first week of February, 1967.”
Which isn’t to say that — while the Imagineers were back in Glendale, designing Disney World’s “Vacation Kingdom” — that there was no work going on on-site on those 27,443 acres.
Early Construction at Walt Disney World – Introducing General Joe Potter
There were huge pieces of heavy earth-moving equipment moving under the guidance of General Joe Potter AKA William Everett Potter. Walt had first met General Joe when he was working with Robert Moses on the 1964 – 1965 New York World’s Fair. This is when Walt Disney learned about Potter’s work history:
- Mr. Potter has supervised the Army Corps of Engineers as they tackled a $100 million project to control the Missouri River
- General Joe followed that challenging work assignment with a 5 year stint as the governor of the Panama Canal Zone.
When Walt learned about General Joe’s work experience when it came to guiding genuinely massive water control projects to completion, Disney quietly pulled Potter aside and said “Have I go a job for you.”
So throughout 1966, General Joe and his team began wrestling with the swamps of Central Florida. With the end goal here getting this twice-the-size-of-the-Island-of-Manhattan wetland ready for construction.
Reedy Creek Drainage District and “Joe’s Ditches”
Now before Potter could begin working onsite, Disney — with the help of state & county officials in Florida — formed the Reedy Creek Drainage District (that name sounds familiar for some reason). The purpose of the Reedy Creek Drainage District was … Well, this was a legal entity that then made it possible for the Company to begin reclaiming and preparing all of the property that it had acquired on-the-sly in 1964 & 1965 for subsequent development.
Now Potter had a lot of plates to spin here as he began working on this project. First and foremost, there was the fact that headwaters of the Everglades actually start in the Orlando area and then flow on through to the Kissimmee chain of lakes. Of which Bay Lake at Walt Disney World is one of the key bodies of water within this ecosystem.
So General Joe had to make sure that — not matter what he was doing on property — water had to continue to flow on through from Bay Lake down on towards the Everglades. While — of course — trying to keep the water table at select sites around Disney World low so that they could then support construction of the Vacation Kingdom.
This meant that Walt Disney Production needed to criss-cross its 27,443 acres of land in Central Florida with miles & miles of new drainage canals. Which Walt — not entirely affectionately — began referring to as “Joe’s ditches.”
Potter oversaw the construction of the Walt Disney World Resort’s entire infrastructure. He supervised the building and operation of the underground utilities and sewer, power, and water treatment plants that were considered revolutionary at the time. Among his achievements, Potter was well-known for the development of drainage canals for the entire property, which were known affectionately as “Joe’s ditches” and kept the water table constant.
Another Disney World Joe – Admiral Joe Fowler
Admiral Joe Fowler was the WWII vet that Walt roped in back in the Summer of 1954 to help turn that orange grove in Anaheim, CA into the Happiest Place on Earth. Fowler had then stayed on with the Disney organization to help build projects-of-size.
So as not to confuse these two men:
- General Joe Potter got the swampland that Walt bought ready for the actual construction of his vacation kingdom.
- Whereas Admiral Joe Potter was the one who then went on to supervise the construction of the Magic Kingdom, the themed resort hotels, World Drive. You get the idea.
Anyway, Admiral Joe Fowler recalled in an interview in the late 1980s:
The first canal Joe Potter laid out ran straight as an arrow from Bay Lake to the south part of the property. I was with Walt when he first saw it. Walt didn’t raise his voice. The only way you could tell he was angry was when he raised his right eyebrow. He raised it and said, ‘Look, Joe. I don’t want any more of those Corps of Engineers canals.’
From then on, at much greater expense, the canals that General Joe Potter had dug on property were deliberately laid out in a meandering pattern to resemble natural rivers.
More to the point, WDW’s water control system was laid out in such a way that — when Central Florida experienced a heavy rain storm (which used to happen virtually every afternoon at around 2 o’clock) — that a system of automatic gates would then open & close. Preventing key portions of the property (the ones that had been designated as construction sites for the theme park, the golf courses and the hotels) from flooding.
Vacation Kingdom or Valuable Real Estate for Sale?
But — again — remember, officials from Walt Disney Productions kept describing those 24,773 acres of land that they’d acquired back in 1964 & 1965 as “ … a major and important real estate acquisition.” A chunk of property that had significantly increased in value since Disney had acquired this parcel.
So all of the time & money that Walt Disney Productions was plowing into the creation of all of those canals criss-crossing Central Florida’s swamps didn’t actually mean that they were really going to go forward with the construction of …
Well, here’s the language that Disney PR flacks put out in 1966 as part of the Company’s annual report:
More to the point:
“ … a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for everyone who participates.”
And the whole time that Disney Officials are meeting with folks who are high up in the legislative branches of the State of Florida as they plan out all of the roads, off-ramps & interchanges that will then provide access to the more-than-6,000,000 visitors who are expected to come flooding into the Central Florida area during Disney World’s first year of operation, they’re saying things like:
“Well, Walt hasn’t completely committed yet to building Disney World. I mean, he likes Project Florida and all. But he’s also excited about that ski area the Company looking to build up in the High Sierra. And the Department of the Interior and the State of California are really eager to work with him on Mineral King. They’re already talking about funding the construction of an all-weather road that will take Guests straight to that property.”
With the very unsubtle message here being … If you want us to actually build this vacation kingdom in the swamps of Central Florida, the State and Federal Government are going to have to cover the cost of construction of all these roads, off-ramps & interchanges that will then get Guests to Disney World.
Playing Hardball with Mickey Mouse – Disney and Florida Legislature
That whole year of 1966, Disney Company representatives worked closely with state and county officials, trying to identify key legal issues that would then serve as road blacks to Project Florida. With the idea here being:
- In February of 1967, Walt Disney Productions would first present its plans for the Vacation Kingdom.
- And then — in the months that follow — the Florida Legislature would then vote on a bill (or a package of bills) that would then clear a path for this $100 million project.
Whenever the folks in Orange & Osceola County (or — for that matter — officials up in Tallahassee) would start to complain about the terms & conditions that Walt Disney Productions execs were lying out, how the supposedly family-friendly Mouse was playing hardball here, Disney officials would then drop disturbing little tidbits of information. Like:
- California Governor Ronald Reagan has already gone on record as saying he supports the Mineral King project and that he hopes construction of this “ … year-round recreation facility in the High Sierras” goes forward
- Or that the National Forest Service has just given its okay to construct an all-weather road through a previously preserved section of Sequoias. Which will now provide necessary access to the Mineral King construction.
Long story short: This was a high stakes game of poker that the State of Florida found itself. And if it actually wanted to come out on top here, have Walt Disney Productions move beyond installing just drainage canals on site at the 24,773 acres that it acquired in Central Florida in 1964 & 1965 and then build … Well, not just a theme park & some hotels. But “… a recreation and entertainment complex whose impact on the quality of urban life will be measured for generations to come.”
They had to put up.
Death of Walt Disney – Selling Off Disney?
Then — to add further pressure to the whole situation — Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966. And — for a brief window of time — everyone holds their breath as there are rumors of Roy O. Disney selling off the entire company to RCA and both Project Florida & Mineral King being cancelled.
We’ll get to that part of the story — as well as the actual Reedy Creek Improvement District legislation — in the next installment of this series.
If you missed Part 1 of The History of Reedy Creek Improvement District, be sure to take a look at our coverage of Project Florida and the Epcot film.
If you’d like to learn more about Mineral King, Daniel P. Selmi has written a book about this never-built project, “Dawn at Mineral King Valley: The Sierra Club, the Disney Company, and the Rise of Environmental Law.” This 344-page hardcover is being published by the University of Chicago Press on July 7th of this year. Amazon is currently offering it for $30, $38.50 for the Kindle version.
This article is based on research for The Disney Dish Podcast “Episode 370”, published on April 18, 2022. The Disney Dish Podcast is part of the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network.
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